Anti-particulate diesel additives

Another Dave gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

If they did, then they were wrong. Unless they were also including the cost of a replacement for a clogged particulate filter.

What sort of mileage?

No, relatively few do, but the really expensive bit is on virtually all.

There's three basic methods of reducing particulate emission. All work on basically the same theory - filter and store the particulates then burn them off when the opportunity arises.

Two use additives - AdBlu (common in trucks, might be in some Mercedes cars), Eolys (Peugeot/Citroen, but only for a short while), whilst the third just uses extra diesel fuel.

All wait until the exhaust gets properly hot-hot-hot, so tend to clog the filters in short-journey use. When all are regenerating, the exhaust gets VERY, VERY, VERY hot because of the burning-off.

Then there's the dual-mass flywheel issues, and the costs arising from mis-fuelling (possibly by a previous owner).

I'd avoid a modern diesel, tbh, for your sort of mileage. The extra fuel costs of a fairly economical petrol will be relatively low compared to the potential costs.

Only those with early versions of DPF. (Diesel Particulate Filter.) The fluid is used to regenerate the DPF

Later cars use some extra fuel to regenerate the filter, but this can only happen when the engine is warmed up, and is working fairly hard, so is unsuitable for vehicles operated mostly at low speeds in cities. If the filter doesn't regenerate the ECU will eventually shut the engine down, requiring recovery and filter replacement. This is also expensive.

All of them. They're diesel ;-)

Chris

On Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:01:09 +0000, Adrian boggled us with:

Indeed. My dad's Merc gets a remarkable 44mpg according to the computer on it. Not bad for a 2 litre petrol lump.

It'll get a lot more now he's given up driving..

I've tracked down the thread (kicked off by Mr Cheerful ;-) )

It was, as you say, Eolys on a Citroen. £980 was the figure quoted.

I'll bear in mind your suggestion that I go for petrol. I've had 65,000 trouble-free miles out of my current diesel so I'm still undecided. I do mainly long open road journeys.

Another Dave

Another Dave gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Read the whole thread - it was a main dealer price... including a new filter and ECU reset etc. Just not needed.

So it should regenerate reasonably well.

What age is your current diesel, and what?

54 reg Fiat Stilo 1.9 JTD. It's now done 98,000 miles. I have to say the engine is by far and away the best thing about the car - powerful, economical, smooth and very reliable. I've changed the oil and cambelt as recommended and that's it.

Another Dave

"Adrian" wrote

Some Kia/Hyundai still don't have particulate capture. They are also chain driven cam.

Not all cars have a DMF (but models are difficult to identify). A broken DMF can sometimes be replaced by a solid.

If misfuelling causes bits of hardened surfaces to break away I would have thought if damage is done it would be immediately noticeable, rather than leave hidden surprises.

For 20K?

A D might gain a bit on VED and insurance. And then there's the performance... a modern lardy box with atmospheric petrol engine and CO2 tax adjusted final drive doesn't make a happy combination. I only do 10K but that was one of my considerations.

In what way are you linking misfuelling to causing DMF problems, or have I misread you?

Rob Graham

I think he's listing 2 seperate issues.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Chris Whelan saying something like:

Strikes me that's extremely irresponsible of the makers - who knows how vital a journey might be, when it shuts down the car.

You get plenty of warning that the filter's starting to block.

If you continue to drive any car with a warning light on, it's quite likely to stop eventually...

Chris

IME, some cars with DPF's are much more prone to problems than others, namely VAG's 170 tdi's (Pre CR) Pugs with the eolys (electronic problems rather than the actual filter) Some Vx 1.9's with the Fiat engine, usually zafira's (school runs perhaps?) and becoming more problematic are the so-called Eco models (blue motions etc) which use a very long striding 6th gear, thus engine rpms never get very high.

Cars I rarely see with DPF issues are Volvo d5's, the PSA 2.0 but only when used in Fords- non eoyls, VAG V6's some mercs - usually the v6's and almost never- BMW's. So the technology can be made to work. My personal understanding is that engines that use alot of EGR are much more prone to problems as the dpf has to deal with alot more soot.

A common misconception is the need to rev the nuts off the engine with it practically in melt-down for the dpf to regenerate- actually 20-30% load at ~2500rpm are the conditions where the ecu will retard the timing and add the extra fuel for the process to start. (non eolys systems only)

There are some dpf delete kits coming on the market now for the most troublesome cars, along with the software update for it to work.

Tim..

DO NOT go for anything with Vauxhall's CDTi lump in. They don't use magic fluid to keep the exhaust clean, but they do tend to f*ck up badly and expensively far too often.

Vauxhall can be talked into buying cars back if they spend too much time broken, which is about the only saving grace.